Amnesty? Garcia is against it

In the Republican primary in the 2nd Congressional District, moderate Gary Lambert has been hiding his own lack of substance by misrepresenting Marilinda Garcia's positions. He lodges charges that he knows are untrue, hoping they will do their damage before the voters find out they've been had. And boy, will Republicans have been had if they nominate this guy over Garcia.

Recently, Lambert accused Garcia of wanting to raise taxes when her plan actually would have cut them. That put him in rare company. PolitifactNH gave him a "Pants on Fire" rating, which makes Lambert only the second person to get that rating from PolitifactNH. The other is President Obama.

Worse, Lambert says he wants a "simpler, fairer tax code." The only way to do that is to close loopholes. But Lambert opposes closing loopholes, saying in a recent debate, "when you close a loophole, guess what? Revenue goes up." His "simpler, fairer tax code" is just a talking point he heard somewhere. He does not even understand what it means.

Lambert now charges that Garcia is for amnesty for illegal aliens. He does not know what that means, either. Garcia advocates securing the border and apprehending and deporting those who are streaming over it.

She states clearly that no one who came her illegally gets citizenship. Amnesty means to pardon, to agree not to punish. But Garcia would punish all illegals by making them permanently ineligible for citizenship, at the very least.

Close observers of this primary are coming to the conclusion that on issue after issue, Gary Lambert has no idea what he is talking about.

Marilinda Garcia is by far the best candidate in this race. She has the vision, intelligence and integrity to be a great representative in Congress. Republicans will make a big mistake if they let misleading, ignorant attacks deter them from choosing Garcia on Sept. 9.